Roseanne Byford

Day 3 is here!

Every year I try and make some yummy festive goodies for my family and friends so, I thought I’d share with you some ideas I’ve done previously and some that I am planning on doing this year!

I love mince pies! Any sort are yummy, which is strange because as a child I thought they were horrible.

This recipe is a Slimming World friendly one but don’t be put off they are super delicious…just a little smaller.

I made these last year for me and Tim to enjoy and for my sister as part of her Christmas present.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

low calorie cooking spray
227g/ 8oz plain flour
a pinch of salt
113g/ 4oz butter or margarine,cut into small cubes
16 level tbsp mincemeat
1 level tsp icing sugar, to dust

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5.

Lightly spray some bun tins with low calorie cooking spray.

Make the pastry; Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Add the fat and gently rub it in with your fingertips.

Add sufficient cold water to mix to a ball that leaves the sides of the bowl clean. Rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Roll out the pastry thinly on a lightly floured surface.

 Cut out 32 rounds with a 7.5cm/3 inch fluted cutter. Use to line the prepared bun tins.

Divide the mincemeat between the pastry cases.

 Roll out the remaining pastry trimmings and make some little stars with a star cutter. Use to decorate the tops of the tarts.

Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and lightly coloured. Cool on a wire rack and dust lightly with the icing sugar.

I’ve made them once so far, this year, here’s a picture of my attempt. Me and Tim really enjoyed them with a cuppa!

Another homemade gift that I’ve made before is ‘Hot chocolate marshmallow stirrers’

These are easy to make and really yummy.

You’ll need the large marshmallows, I got mine from Tesco. (Other supermarkets are available) A large chocolate bar, some chocolate sprinkles & skewers.

Melt some chocolate of your choice, in a bowl over hot water, my preferred method then pop the marshmallows onto the end of a skewer and dip into the chocolate generously!

Once you have a nice covering of chocolate dip the chocolate end into the sprinkles and cool in the fridge until the chocolate has hardened.

I wrapped the Marsmallow with little cellophane bags and tied with ribbon. Tie a hot chocolate sachet in with the ribbon and you have one yummy hot chocolate ready to go!

One last little idea that I love is ‘chocolate dipped oreo snowman pops’
(That’s a mouthful!)

You’ll need lolly sticks, oreos,  white chocolate and sprinkles & choc chips to decorate.

Push the stick into the creamy filling between the oreos.

Melt your chocolate the same way as the marshmallows and cover your oreos in the chocolate.

Stick on your sprinkles & choc drops to make the snow man’s face.

Leave to cool in the fridge! So easy.

I hope this has given you a few ideas, let me know what you think and if you try any of these ideas how you got on.

I’ll be doing another homemade Christmas present post later on in blogmas but focusing on crafty ones as these are one of my hobbies.

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

So let’s talk advent calenders…

I’ve got two this year, but before you think that’s a bit greedy, allow me to explain. One is a yummy dairy milk one, my favourite chocolate, and the second one is a colouring in one.

My dairy milk one.

Tims Lindor one.

Now you may think the colouring one sounds a bit childish but as mentioned in a previous blog adult colouring books are all the rage at the moment, I’ve got three different ones of varying themes, and when I saw the advent calender one I had to get it.

There’s a door to colour in each day and it eventually makes a colourful Christmas scene!

It stands up on its own, a bit like a book, so that when your done you can keep it up as a nice decoration if you want to.

I’m probably going to have my chocolate calender in the morning because I’m too impatient and I’ll do the colouring in one when I get home from work.

I love having advent calenders as they bring a little bit of excitement each day!

Only 23 days to go!

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

So, for those who don’t know what  blogmas is let me explain…

Blogmas is blogging everyday until Christmas day! That’s 25 festive blogs talking about all things Christmas.

For my first blog I’m going to talk about my first bit of Christmas preparation for the festive season and that’s putting up the decorations. Now alot of people have told me I put them up too early but, I like to get at least a months worth of festive cheer from them so up they went the 25th November.

Here are some pictures:

The silver hanging garlands are in my hallway but I also have red ones in the lounge.

Lots of lights! These are in my hallway.

Snowflakes!

I love having lots of decorations up, they make me feel all Christmassy amd excited every time I walk into the room.

We put the tree up this Sunday (29th) We waited until then so that we could do it together. Our tree has a traditional theme of red, gold and green.

We did the lights first which really brings the tree to life and I love how the light catches the baubles, looks so pretty.

Next we put on the red beads, red and gold tinsel and then the baubles and decorations.

Red, gold and green.

The finished tree.

The all important star on top!

Our ‘R’ and ‘T’ decorations.

Our lovely baubles from our friends Sam & Livys wedding

I love Christmas and now that our home is decorated and blogmas has begun I’m getting really excited, it’s such a fun, happy time of year!

Happy 1st of December,  only 24 days to go.

What’s the first thing you like to do to get into the Christmas spirit? Let me know.

Until Next time, 

Roseanne 🙂

I don’t wear very much make up but there are a few bits that I really like to use so I thought I’d blog about them.

Now anyone that knows me, knows that I am a nail varnish addict, I have so many colours.

I usually go for Barry M ones as they do a great range of colours and I got this limited edition one free yesterday because I spent over £6.

It’s called Sparkling ruby, it’s a lovely red with a sparkle in it. It’s great for this time of year, very Christmassy!

The clear nail varnish you see in the picture next to the red nail varnish is Maybellines Forever strong Super Stay top coat.  It keeps the nail varnish on well and adds a nice shine.

I brought myself an eye shadow pallet yesterday as I don’t actually own one. Again, this is Barry M and it’s their Naural Glow 2 eyeshadow & primer palette.

The colours are lovely, light and neutral sowork well for lots of looks. The dark colours are great for the corners of your eyes.

This is my new Barry M ‘Cor Balmy’ lip balm.  I already have the Rosie lea colour which is a lovely pink. Yesterday I brought this colour which is called Current bun, its got a nice purple tonge to itm They are really nice as they are a lip balm but give a subtle colour to your lips and go on really nicely.

Two of my make up staples are Body Shops bb cream as this isn’t heavy like a foundation but gives a nice even coverage and it changes to match your skin tone. I also like to use a rosy blusher on the apple of my cheeks.

This is a picture of me and my twin sister Sarah at my friends wedding, I really like my make up in this picture. I used my favourites that I mentioned above and some of my sisters eye shadow to create this look.

Sarah knows alot more about make up than me so she’s my go to if I need any tips or advice.

Check out her blog all about her make up choices at:

https://sarahscornerblog.wordpress.com/2015/10/18/whats-on-my-dressing-table-%f0%9f%92%81/

Or look for Sarahs corner blog on WordPress.

Thanks guys, let me know what your make up must haves are!

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

On Saturday we celebrated the wedding of Sam & Livy.

I’ve known Sam since I was 15/16 years old. We went to the same high school and when we went to Sixth form we, with my twin Sarah and bestie Roxy formed a strong friendship group, with a few others that we already knew and some we met along the way!

We’ve had so many fun times throughout the years and he is one of my closest friend so it was a privaledge to be able to share this special day with him and the lovely Livy.

Their wedding was at the beautiful Smeetham Hall Barn in Sudbury.

They had a marquee which was attached to the barn, it was lovely. We were in
the marquee to begin with and then took our seats ready for the ceremony to begin at 12.30.

Me and my twin sister Sarah waiting for the ceremony to begin.

Livy looked absolutely beautiful in her dress and the smile on Sams face when he saw her was lovely to witness. It was very emotional and with some musical performances from family members it was really special. I’m not ashamed to admit I cried, especially when Livy made her grand entrance.

The new Mr & Mrs Brooke.

Signing the register.

We had drinks, after the ceremony, in the marquee and congratulated the bride and groom (and yes I cried… again) before they had photos done.

Me& Tim ♡

Wedding selfie.

My gorgeous nephew having a run around.

The speeches were lovely to listen too and I think the grooms speech made everyone a bit tearful! After that it was time for the wedding breakfast, the tables looked lovely and my goodness was the food yummy.

Here’s what we had to eat:

Chicken and bacon salad with a yummy dressing and croutons!

Roast Pork with all the trimmings.

A trio of desserts, fruit jelly, cheesecake and a chocolate mousse in a dark chocolate cup.

So delicious!!

Then we had the lovely first dance…

…and the cutting of the cake!

And of course, after that all that was left to do was party!!

Having fun doing the barn dance!

The bride doing a twirl.

And of course another selfie!

We had such a lovely day and I loved seeing two of my friends so happy. They are so right for each other and I wish the new Mr and Mrs Brooke a lifetime of fun, laughter, love and happiness because they truly deserve it ♡

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

Our second trip to Italy took us to Bologna, Florence, Pisa and Venice (again, yay!)

First stop Bologna!

Bologna was way better than I gave it credit for. We had such an amazing, and interesting time there. There was so much to do and it felt like we were there for more than 2 days because we crammed so much in. It’s definatly a place in Italy I would recommend.

We went to a museum all about Bologna and Italian medieval history, climbed the tallest tower in Bologna, went for a walk round the park, had a walking tour which was awesome, looked round the shops AND looked round the food markets, the food was phenomenal!

The towers in Bologna. We climbed the tallest one. Over 400 steps!! We were knackered.

The Bologna food markets, the food was out of this world. Me and Tim got our lunch from there on our last day in Bologna, we got fresh rolls, mozzarella and parma ham (See below)

Whilst in Bologna we had ‘au ragu’ which is their tomato sauce for pasta! Bologna is the home of Bolognese and it’s so authentic and super delicious. Its a must have if you are in Bologna, teamed with some tortellini your on to a winner.

Next stop, Florence! We spent 3 days here and one of them was the best day of my life so far…

We had a walking tour in Florence too which took up one of our afternoon/evenings and we went to the Natural History Museum of Florence as well as relaxing, eating ice cream (note: always check the price) and looking round the shops.

The hotel we stayed in had the coolest pancake machine, so you can guess what I had for breakfast whilst we were there!

On the Saturday we spent in Florence we went to Pisa for half a day!
It was really cool to see the famous leaning tower of Pisa. We went up it and of course did the obligitory touristy pictures with it.

I have to say it’s a lot smaller than you think it’s going to be but they really aren’t exaggerated when they say leaning, walking up the stairs to get to the top is very disorientating.

On the morning of Sunday 19th August, our last day in florence before we headed off to Venice,  me and Tim decided to go back to the Ponte Vecchio bridge, the gold bridge, named so because it is lined with little jewellry shops.

On the corner of the street, after we’d looked around, Tim turned to me and said ‘Do you want to go back to the shop and get the ring you liked?’
‘Why?’ I responded, ‘because I might need it’ again I responded ‘why?’ And Tim said…